Academic Life Coaching – and why your child should be doing it

Let’s face it- getting good grades is a big part of doing well in school. Top notch grades and high scores on college admissions tests like the SAT and ACT are a huge deal to students aiming for college and university acceptance. What is it all for? Setting up for success in life and getting a great satisfying job, you say? Well of course it’s that- but there’s more…

The more is—What sort of self-awareness and emotional intelligence are you dealing with during the high school and college years? What tools and inner resources do you rely on for decision making and problem solving? How do you prioritize? How to you set attainable goals for yourself and how do you go about reaching them?

Academic Life Coaching serves to address the whole student – not just the grades. Its aim is to help build a solid foundation of self-awareness, organization, responsibility, and inner motivation so that students can thrive in high school, college, and beyond. Through individually-tailored one-on-one sessions, an Academic Life Coach will bring to light different areas of student life and how they are interrelated. Students work through various activities that develop systems for note taking and studying, address relationships with family and friends, explore core motivation and learning style, create a personal mission statement, and develop leadership skills.

A Stanford University study shows that Academic Life Coaching increases college graduation rates. Students that are capable of managing their time and prioritizing work and studying stay in school and graduate. For this reason, many of our country’s top college and universities have added Academic Life Coaching to the services they offer to their students. Schools such as Columbia University, Clemson University, University of Illinois, University of Georgia, University of Tennessee, to name just a few, have hired professional Academic Life Coaches to work with their students.

Middle and High School students can now take advantage of Academic Life Coaching to gain a strong advantage over their peers who have yet to discover coaching. Addressing concerns and stress about grades and relationships, anxiety about the college application process, and how to move forward on a path that makes sense are all part of the coaching process.

Amanda Patrick, Educational Director and Academic Life Coach at Estelle Finkel Center for Learning works with students on an individual basis through a 10-session program. The 10-session Academic Life Coaching Program is specifically designed to address the most challenging aspects of being a student and young person. Skills and tools addressed in the program focus on helping students be successful academically, as well as helping them gain life skills to lead effective and fulfilled adult lives. Sessions by appointment only, please call to discuss your student and schedule your first session. 973-994-4665 or email amanda@horizonsinlearning.org.